3 reflections on the Rays' busy week

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TAMPA, Fla. -- After beginning the offseason with a couple of quiet weeks on the transactions front, the Rays made a flurry of moves earlier this week.

They traded starting center fielder Jose Siri to the Mets for rookie reliever Eric Orze. They added left-handers Ian Seymour and Joe Rock and switch-hitting outfielder Jake Mangum to their 40-man roster. They traded seldom-used infielder Austin Shenton back to the Mariners and designated lefty reliever Richard Lovelady for assignment.

Here are three takeaways from those moves.

1) Center field belongs to Jonny DeLuca.
President of baseball operations Erik Neander made it clear after the Siri trade that the Rays believe DeLuca is “the right option for us in center field moving forward.”

Swapping Siri for DeLuca could cost the Rays a little bit of defense. While DeLuca is all-around excellent in the outfield, Siri has been one of the game’s best defenders. They might lose some home-run upside, too, if you’re banking on the 25 Siri hit in 2023. While the speedy DeLuca was Tampa Bay’s backup center fielder this season, it might be a left-handed hitter like Richie Palacios or Josh Lowe next year.

But after seeing their offense sputter this past season, the Rays were willing to sacrifice a little defense for a little more consistent offense. Neander specifically cited what DeLuca did after July 26, the day they traded Randy Arozarena and started giving DeLuca more regular work. In his final 50 games, DeLuca slashed .265/.315/.392 with 12 extra-base hits, 12 RBIs and a 16.2% strikeout rate compared to .169/.242/.271 with a 26.2% strikeout rate in his first 57 games off the injured list.

“You look at the numbers and the total body work on the season, that's not something that in totality you want to run out there and feel like you've got a championship-caliber option,” Neander said. “But you look at the progress, you look at the improvement, you look how he's made up and his history of just what he's been able to do with more reps given what a good athlete he is, he's just continued to get better. And I think we saw that the last few months.”

2) Reliever flexibility matters.
Neander said the Rays have liked Orze “for some time,” complimenting his heavily used changeup and his ability to pitch multiple innings and calling him “somebody that could be next in the long line of pitchers that have come here and had their best right in front of them.”

Orze also joins the Rays with Minor League options remaining, and Tampa Bay might have to tap into its bullpen depth a little more than usual next season. Even setting aside any workload/injury concerns, there’s an obvious change: The Rays will play 81 more games outdoors, which means the opportunity for more pitching-plan-disrupting rainouts, delays and doubleheaders.

Having arms like Orze will help them weather that storm, if you’ll pardon the obvious pun, and responsibly manage their arms.

“Just somebody that we like, we appreciate and the kind of arms that, especially looking ahead to this season, being outdoors, the potential for weather disruption and the like, you're going to need some flexibility,” Neander said. “You're going to need to have a few extra arms that you can trust and count on to be part of your mix -- and he's going to, at minimum, help us in that way.”

3) No surprises on the Rule 5 front.
The Rays only had two Top 30 Prospects eligible for this year’s Rule 5 Draft. They protected both, and both could contribute in the Majors soon after pitching for Triple-A Durham last season. Seymour and Rock will continue to be built up as starters, assistant GM Kevin Ibach said, and Tampa Bay understands the importance of quality depth as well as anyone.

It also made sense for the Rays to protect Mangum, who slashed .317/.358/.442 with Triple-A Durham this season. He’ll provide another option in the outfield, including another backup option in center, and he can shuttle between Triple-A and the Majors if needed.

“You lose Siri today, and any way you just spin it, I think you're losing an elite defender out there,” Ibach said. “You're going to have to cover that with more athleticism and more people who can run and go get it in the outfield. I think Jake falls into that category.”